Display dimming in response to user

ABSTRACT

In some embodiments a detector is to detect a body of a user. A controller is to determine an area of focus of the user in response to the detector, and to dim a portion of a display that is not in the area of focus. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The inventions general relate to display dimming in response to a user.

BACKGROUND

Current power management implementations are not context aware. Mobiledevices, for example, typically have power modes that are onlyresponsive to being touched or closed. A user will experience a completeloss of interaction with any application, work, or content with whichthe user is interfacing. Today's power management techniques are nototherwise aware of context in any meaningful way. It is not responsiveto what the user is doing or how the user is working, creating,consuming, etc. Power management is typically an “all or nothing”arrangement, with a power management state corresponding to dimming ofthe display screen, for example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The inventions will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription given below and from the accompanying drawings of someembodiments of the inventions which, however, should not be taken tolimit the inventions to the specific embodiments described, but are forexplanation and understanding only.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system according to some embodiments of theinventions,

FIG. 2 illustrates a system according to some embodiments of theinventions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments of the inventions relate to display dimming in responseto a user's body.

In some embodiments, a body of a user is detected, an area of focus ofthe user is determined in response to the detecting, and a portion of adisplay that is not in the area of focus is dimmed.

In some embodiments a detector is to detect a body of a user. Acontroller is to determine an area of focus of the user in response tothe detector, and to dim a portion of a display, that is not in the areaof focus.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 according to some embodiments. In someembodiments system 100 includes a user 102 and a device 104 such as anelectronic device. In some embodiments, device 104 is one or more of acomputer, a desktop computer, a personal computer, a mobile phone, atablet, a laptop, a mobile device, a mobile internet device, a musicplayer, etc.

In some embodiments, device 104 includes a display 106 and a camera 108.In some embodiments, display 106 is a display screen or a device screen,etc. In some embodiments, camera 108 is a still camera, a video camera,a web camera, etc, in some embodiments, camera 108 is coupled to and/orpart of the display 106 of the device 104.

In some embodiments, display 104 includes an area 112 of active userfocus and an area 114 that is not actively viewed by the user 102. Forexample, when user 102 is working on a particular application appearingon the display 104 the user's attention is focused on area 112 and theuser is not paying attention to anything that is displayed in area 114.

In some embodiments, camera 108 monitors user 102. Specifically, in someembodiments, camera 108 monitors a particular body area of the user suchas the head or the eyes of the user. Based on the monitoring of user 102by the camera 108, it may be determined where the user 102 is gazinginto a field of vision 122.

In some embodiments, the gaze of user 102 is monitored in order toperform power management. In some embodiments, the field of vision 122of user 102 can be determined in response to the monitoring of thecamera in order to help determine the area 112 of active focus that theuser is currently focusing on within the display 106. Once the area 106of focus has been determined, power management is implemented accordingto some embodiments. For example, in some embodiments, area 114 ofdisplay 106 that is not being actively viewed by the user is dimmed,completely blackened, or otherwise changed in order to manage power useby the device 104.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 according to some embodiments. In someembodiments system 200 includes a display 206, a detector 208, and acontroller 212. In some embodiments, display is a display that is thesame as or similar to display 106 in FIG. 1. In some embodiments,detector 208 is a detector that detects a body of a user (for example,to determine an area of focus of the user). In some embodiments,detector 208 is a detector that detects a physical feature of a body ofa user. For example, in some embodiments, detector 208 is a detectorthat detects a positioning, orientation, or movement of a user's head,face, eye, eyes, ear, ears, mouth, nose, shoulder, shoulders, and/orbody, etc.

In some embodiments, detector 208 is an eye tracker. In someembodiments, detector 208 is an eye tracker that detects movement of oneor both eyes of a user. In some embodiments, detector 208 is a camera(for example, a camera that is the same as or similar to camera 108 inFIG. 1). In some embodiments, controller 212 is a processor.

In some embodiments, detector 208 detects a user's gaze. In response tothe detected gaze, controller 212 determines if the user's gaze isdirected toward a specific area of the display 206 for a sustainedperiod of time, for example. In some embodiments, controller 212calculates the specific area of the display 206 corresponding to theuser's gaze (for example, area 112 in FIG. 1 according to someembodiments). In some embodiments, controller 212 dims, blackens, orotherwise changes an area of display 206 that is not in the area of theuser's gaze (for example, to save power and/or to save battery power).In some embodiments, only a portion of display 206 remains illuminated.In some embodiments, controller 212 and display 206 use a visual markerto dim, blacken or otherwise change the area of display 206 that is notin the area of the user's gaze.

In some embodiments, if a user's gaze changes (for example, by a usermoving their eyes toward a different portion of the display 206), thesystem 200 reawakens, for example, to a full screen display/illuminationmode. In some embodiments, when this occurs, an outline of the previousarea of the user's gaze (that is the area where the user's attention waspreviously focused) is provided using controller 212 and display 206, Insonic embodiments, this outline area slowly fades away as the gazedetection of detector 208 and controller 212 register eye movementoutside the last area of major focus by the user.

In some embodiments, power is saved by dimming (for example, partiallydimming, fully dimming, and/or blackening) a portion of the display,even if it is only a small portion of the display. This is particularlyhelpful in a mobile device that is using battery power, By dimming aportion of the display, it is easier for the user's eyes to focus on thetask at hand rather than being distracted by peripheral visual noise.Additionally, according to some embodiments, power management is contextaware since gaze detection across some or all areas of the displayscreen may be only slightly dimmed instead of entirely dimming thescreen. According to some embodiments, the user sets preferences toselect complete or shaded use of this tool (for example, completedimming or slight dimming, a user adjustable amount of dimming, etc).

Although some embodiments have been described herein as beingimplemented in a certain way, according to some embodiments theseparticular implementations may not be required.

Although some embodiments have been described in reference to particularimplementations, other implementations are possible according to someembodiments. Additionally, the arrangement and/or order of circuitelements or other features illustrated in the drawings and/or describedherein need not be arranged in the particular way illustrated anddescribed, Many other arrangements are possible according to someembodiments.

In each system shown in a figure, the elements in some cases may eachhave a same reference number or a different reference number to suggestthat the elements represented could be different and/or similar.However, an element may be flexible enough to have differentimplementations and work with some or all of the systems shown ordescribed herein. The various elements shown in the figures may be thesame or different. Which one is referred to as a first element and whichis called a second element is arbitrary.

In the description and claims, the terms “coupled” and “connected,”along with their derivatives, may be used. It should be understood thatthese terms are not intended as synonyms for each other. Rather, inparticular embodiments, “connected” may be used to indicate that two ormore elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with eachother. “Coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in directphysical or electrical contact. However, “coupled” may also mean thattwo or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yetstill co-operate or interact with each other.

An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistentsequence of acts or operations leading to a desired result. Theseinclude physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, thoughnot necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like.It should be understood, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities.

Some embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware,firmware, and software. Some embodiments may also be implemented asinstructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read andexecuted by a computing platform to perform the operations describedherein. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storingor transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, a machine-readable medium may include read onlymemory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media;optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, the interfaces that transmit and/orreceive signals, etc.), and others.

An embodiment is an implementation or example of the inventions.Reference in the specification to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,”“some embodiments,” or “other embodiments” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but notnecessarily all embodiments, of the inventions. The various appearances“an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” or “some embodiments” are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiments.

Not all components, features, structures, characteristics, etc.described and illustrated herein need be included in a particularembodiment or embodiments. If the specification states a component,feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, “can” or “could”be included, for example, that particular component, feature, structure,or characteristic is not required to be included. If the specificationor claim refers to “a” or “an” element, that does not mean there is onlyone of the element. If the specification or claims refer to “anadditional” element, that does not preclude there being more than one ofthe additional element.

Although flow diagrams and/or state diagrams may have been used hereinto describe embodiments, the inventions are not limited to thosediagrams or to corresponding descriptions herein. For example, flow neednot move through each illustrated box or state or in exactly the sameorder as illustrated and described herein.

The inventions are not restricted to the particular details listedherein. Indeed, those skilled in the art having the benefit of thisdisclosure will appreciate that many other variations from the foregoingdescription and drawings may be made within the scope of the presentinventions. Accordingly, it is the following claims including anyamendments thereto that define the scope of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: detecting a body of a user;determining an area of focus of the user in response to the detecting;and dimming a portion of a display that is not in the area of focus. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting detects at least one of ahead, face, eye, eyes, ear, ears, mouth, nose, shoulder, or shoulders ofthe body of the user.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the detectingdetects at least one of a positioning, orientation, or movement of theuser.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting detects at leastone of a positioning, orientation, or movement of the user.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the detecting detects an image of the user.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the area of focusof the user corresponds to a gaze of the user.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the dimming is a partial dimming of the portion of the displaythat is not in the area of focus.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein thedimming is a fill dimming of the portion of the display that is not inthe area of focus.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetecting the body of the user by tracking one or more eyes of the user.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a change inthe area of focus of the user; and undimming the dimmed portion of thedisplay in response to the determining of the change in the area offocus of the user.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:providing an outline on the display in the area of focus of the user;and fading the outline in response to the determining of the change inthe area of focus of the user.
 12. An apparatus comprising: a display; adetector to detect a body of a user; and a controller to determine anarea of focus of the user in response to the detector, and to dim aportion of the display that is not in the area of focus.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, the detector to detect at least one of a head,face, eye, eyes, ear, ears, mouth, nose, shoulder, or shoulders of thebody of the user.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, the detector to detectat least one of a positioning, orientation, or movement of the body ofthe user.
 15. The apparatus of claim 12, the detector to detect at leastone of a positioning, orientation, or movement of the user.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the detector is a camera to detect animage of the user.
 17. The apparatus of claim 12, the controller todetermine the area of focus of the user by determining a gaze of theuser.
 18. The apparatus of claim 12, the controller to partially dim theportion of the display that is not in the area of focus.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 12, the controller to fully dim the portion of thedisplay that is not in the area of focus.
 20. The apparatus of claim 12,the detector to detect the body of the user by tracking one or more eyesof the user.
 21. The apparatus of claim 12, the controller to determinea change in the area of focus of the user, and to undim the dimmedportion of the display in response to determining the change in the areaof focus of the user.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, the controller toprovide an outline on the display in the area of focus of the user, andto fade the outline in response to the determining of the change in thearea of focus of the user.